ADDRESS  AT  HARTFORD, 

BEFORE  THE  DELEGATES  TO  THE 

DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN 
OF  CONNECTICUT, 

ON  THE 

EVENING  OP  FEBRUARY  18,  1840, 

BY  GEORGE  BANCROFT, 
fit  tftonformftg  to  a  Vote  of  t$e  Conbentfon, 

Fellow  Citizens  : 

The  invitation  to  meet  you  this  evening  was  accepted  with 
pleasure ;  nor  do  I  stand  as  among  strangers.  The  people  of  New  England 
have  a  common  lineage,  and  a  common  inheritance.  From  the  days  when 
our  fathers  first  encountered  the  temptations  of  the  wilderness,  when  they 
repelled  the  invasions  of  ruthless  barbarians,  or  resisted  the  tyranny  of  an 
Andros,  or  protected  themselves  against  inroads  from  Canada,  or  braved 
the  emissaries  of  despotism  on  Bunker  Hill,  or  advocated  independence 
on  the  floor  of  Congress,  the  counsels  and  the  efforts  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  have  been  united.  Of  the  study  of  the  virtues  of  your 
ancestors  I  never  grow  weary  ;  and  I  speak  from  deep  and  well-considered 
conviction,  when  I  declare  my  belief,  that,  for  purity  of  moraJs,  for  freedom 
and  humanity  as  illustrated  in  a  progressive  legislation,  for  the  wide  diffu¬ 
sion  of  intelligence,  and  the  consequent  rapid  increase  of  numbers,  and 
of  public  happiness,  the  Connecticut  of  old  times  had  not  its  parallel. 

There  seemed  also  a  propriety,  at  the  present  time,  that  some  one 
from  Massachusetts  should  address  you.  Men  ask,  almost  with  amaze¬ 
ment,  if  Massachusetts  is  indeed  firmly  established  as  a  democratic  state. 
But  a  little  reflection  will,  at  least  throughout  New  England,  remove 
surprise.  The  institutions  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  ancestors,  both  in 
Massachusetts  and  here,  are  so  deeply  tinged  with  the  popular  character, 
as  to  prove,  that  of  old  the  principle  of  democracy  lived  among  our 
fathers,  and  inspired  their  legislation.  The  people  of  Massachusetts 
have,  from  my  earliest  recollection,  been  democratic :  but  in  an  evil  hour 
their  energies  were  lulled  by  the  cry,  that  they  had  won  the  victory,  and 
might  repose  in  the  consciousness  of  an  undisputed  triumph ;  and  while 
the  people  slumbered  in  confiding  security,  the  aristocratic  influence  first 
begged  permission  to  amalgamate,  and  then  usurped  the  ascendency. 
But  it  is  the  nature  of  all  evil  to  punish  itself.  The  aristocratic  influence, 
having  held  dominion  for  fifteen  years,  had  made  the  chief  action  of  the 
legislature  consist  in  passing  special  laws  for  the  benefit  of  individuals  ;  had, 
with  flagrant  indifference  to  justice  and  to  shame,  asserted  to  individual 
stockholders  and  directors  in  corporations  the  power  of  voting,  as  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  legislature,  for  the  grant  of  new  franchises  to  themselves ; 
had  sacrificed  the  productive  labor  of  New  England,  by  upholding  a 
cunningly  devised  financial  system,  that  made  all  American  capital  subser¬ 
vient  to  foreign  capital,  and  the  interests  of  our  own  manufacturers  subordi¬ 
nate  to  those  of  foreigners  ;  had  multiplied  banks,  and  at  last  attempted  to 
charter  a  mammoth  bank  of  ten  millions,  —  which,  by  the  mercy  of  God, 
was  defeated  through  the  intense  effort  of  the  democratic  minority ;  — 
had,  by  an  act  of  legislation,  virtually  sanctioned  the  suspension  of  pay- 


2 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


ments  by  the  banks ;  had  stretched  out  the  unhallowed  hand  of  political 
ambition  to  uphold  the  ark  of  the  Most  High,  and  rested  the  cause  of 
temperance  on  an  arm  of  flesh  ;  had  narrowed  the  rights  of  electors,  by  pre¬ 
scribing  to  them  unjust  and  unnecessary,  and  it  may  be  unconstitutional, 
formalities;  and  had,  for  the  benefit  of  corporations,  mortgaged  all  the 
farms  and  real  estate  of  the  Commonwealth  to  an  amount  about  equal  to 
the  whole  debt  incurred  by  Massachusetts  for  the  war  of  Independence. 

The  aristocratic  influence  had  revealed  itself  to  the  people  in  its  own 
natural  deformity.  The  young  men  in  many  of  our  villages,  almost  with¬ 
out  one  single  exception,  raised  the  democratic  standard,  and  the  good 
ship  Massachusetts  has  been  put  once  more  on  the  republican  tack,  and  this 
time  with  a  faithful  pilot  at  the  helm.  To  doubt  the  issue  would  be  to 
admit  into  our  hearts  a  little  of  that  distrust  of  the  people,  for  which  our 
opponents  are  entitled  to  a  monopoly.  The  democracy  of  Massachusetts 
confides  in  the  people,  and,  ever  true  to  its  good  cause,  in  reverent  hope 
lifts  its  eyes  upwards. 

And  what  is  that  principle,  which  has  thus  been  able,  year  after  year, 
to  advance  in  the  affections  of  New  England,  and,  in  spite  of  the  im¬ 
mense  political  activity  of  associated  wealth,  to  gain  a  victory  in  the  Bay 
State  ?  To-night  I  shall  speak  to  you  of  the  principle  of  democracy, 
of  its  forms,  and  of  its  tendencies  ;  and  in  discussing  a  subject  of  deep¬ 
est  interest  to  every  freeman  in  the  land,  I  shall  deem  my  words  rashly 
spoken,  unless  they  are  confirmed  by  your  concurrence. 

I.  Lay  your  hand  on  your  heart.  It  throbs.  Here,  standing  among 
democrats,  I  may  say,  it  throbs  warmly.  The  farmer  behind  the  plough 
feels  it  beat  in  harmony  with  the  creation  through  which  he  moves.  Go 
out  into  the  crowded  streets,  you  will  every  where  find,  that  there  is  no 
shrivelled  miser,  no  selfish  epicure,  no  ambitious  politician,  no  “  incarna¬ 
tion  of  fat  dividends,”  but  he  has  a  heart.  Seek  whom  you  will,  the 
benevolent  or  the  selfish,  the  highminded  or  the  mean,  the  most  wise  or 
the  most  narrow,  each  one  has  a  heart,  though  sometimes,  on  dissection, 
it  might  require  a  microscope  to  find  its  place. 

Just  so  the  power  to  discern  good  from  evil,  right  from  wrong,  is  im¬ 
planted  within  every  one.  It  is  the  gift  of  God  to  every  man.  God  has 
disfranchised  no  one ;  He  has  cut  off  not  one  from  the  inheritance  of 
reason.  Wherever  there  is  moral  existence,  wherever  there  is  a  human 
being,  there  also  is  found  the  gift  of  mind.  There,  within  the  depths  of 
conscience,  Virtue  has  erected  her  tribunal ;  there  an  arbiter  is  established 
to  decree  what,  in  the  face  of  humanity  and  of  the  Infinite  Mind,  shall  be 
acknowledged  as  justice. 

Democracy  is,  therefore,  the  Power  of  Justice,  as  cherished  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  as  interpreted  and  enforced  by  the  public  mind. 

I  know  it  will  be  said,  that  the  power  of  the  people  will  not,  of  neces¬ 
sity,  be  the  government  of  justice. 

To  whom,  then,  but  to  the  whole  people,  shall  we  look  for  the  true  in¬ 
terpretation  of  justice  ?  If  not  to  the  whole  people,  we  must  look  to  a 
fraction  of  the  people.  Now,  there  is  a  primary  objection  to  making  this 
appeal  to  any  fraction  whatever.  For  by  the  very  fact  that  it  is  a  frac¬ 
tion,  it  has  a  separate  interest.  The  fraction  asks  itself,  “  How  will  this 
look  on  the  exchange,  and  among  the  members  of  the  clan  ?  ”  The  people 
can  only  ask  itself,  “  How  will  this  look  in  the  history  of  the  race,  and 
before  the  Creator  of  man  ?”  If  I  appeal  to  the  whole  people,  I  shall  get 
an  answer  in  harmony  with  general  truth  ;  if  I  appeal  to  a  part  of  the 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


3 


people,  the  answer  will  be  partial,  modified  by  peculiarities  and  a  special 
bias.  To  take  the  decision  away  from  the  whole  community,  implies  an 
unwillingness  to  have  an  answer  resting  on  universal  truth. 

But  let  us  analyze  this  matter  more  minutely.  If  the  expression  of  the 
public  mind  is  not  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  interpreter  of  justice,  and 
we  are  to  look  to  a  fraction,  that  fraction  must  be  the  purest,  or  the 
strongest,  or  the  wealthiest,  or  the  wisest. 

If  we  look  to  the  purest  for  oracles  of  justice,  we  at  once  get  as  a 
political  power  a  priesthood  or  a  church.  We  get  an  aristocracy  of 
priests,  or  an  aristocracy  of  church  members.  How  unwise  the  first  is, 
has  been  ploughed  deeply  into  the  history  of  mankind.  For  the  political 
exaltation  of  a  priesthood  brings  with  it  a  concession  of  a  monopoly  of 
moral  truth.  It  binds  the  mind  in  fetters ;  it  proclaims  the  slavery  of 
the  soul ;  thus  destroying  freedom  at  its  source,  and  with  freedom  de¬ 
stroying  the  possibility  of  public  virtue  and  justice.  New  England  has 
had  an  example  of  an  aristocracy  of  church  members,  in  the  early  history 
of  Massachusetts ;  and  the  record  of  its  fatal  tendency  is  written  in  acts 
of  bigotry,  and  in  letters  of  blood.  Besides :  let  no  man,  however  pure, 
— and  the  truly  pious  man  is  always  humble, —  be  so  arrogant  as  to  claim 
in  piety  a  superiority  to  the  people ;  for  the  people  includes  within  itself 
all  the  purity  and  piety  of  all  its  members. 

The  aristocracy  of  the  strongest  has  also  been  tried.  It  is  the  feudal 
system,  and  the  system  of  each  modern  military  despotism,  giving  domin¬ 
ion  to  brute  force.  It  is  the  system  which  despises  freedom,  and  annihi¬ 
lates  mind.  This  form  of  aristocracy,  far  from  aspiring  to  interpret  jus¬ 
tice,  aims  only  at  asserting  its  own  will. 

The  fraction  of  the  wealthy  next  urges  its  claim.  This  claim  is  more 
frequently  maintained.  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  found  government  on 
property,  says  Webster,  giving  utterance  to  the  creed  of  our  American 
modern  whigs.  The  poet  Addison,  once  secretary  of  state,  was  a  good 
English  whig  in  his  day.  He  maintained  the  same  opinion.  And  John 
Locke,  the  great  philosopher  of  the  whigs,  declares  the  very  design  and 
object  of  government  to  be  the  protection  of  property. 

Now,  to  every  rich  man  there  are  two  things :  — First,  he  is  a  man  :  as 
such,  democracy  respects  him,  and  gives  him  equal  rights.  Next  is  his 
wealth  ;  but  wealth  is  blind.  It  cannot  reason,  and  it  cannot  feel.  The 
money-bag  has  neither  heart  nor  mind.  The  love  of  riches  is  a  base  pas¬ 
sion.  If  government  is  surrendered  to  it,  then  the  question  will  be,  “  What 
will  be  said  of  this  measure  by  the  speculators  in  real  estate  ?  What  will 
be  thought  of  it  by  the  bears  and  bulls  in  the  stock-market  ?  ”  Therefore 
Democracy  rejects  the  government  of  wealth.  She  insists  on  putting  the 
question,  not  to  note-shavers  and  money-makers,  not  to  those  who  are 
rich,  and  are  struggling  to  grow  richer,  but  to  conscience  and  to  mind. 

The  fraction  of  the  learned  comes  next  —  the  wise  men  after  the  flesh. 
But  the  people  collectively  is  wiser  than  they,  for  it  includes  within  itself 
their  wisdom  also.  And  further :  Excellent  as  men  of  learning  are  in  their 
place,  I  should  be  loath  to  resign  the  government  of  the  country  into  the 
hands  of  college  professors  or  the  learned  of  the  land.  For  learning  has  a 
pride  and  an  arrogance  of  its  own.  Besides,  the  pedant’s  chair  may  hold 
every  passion,  mean  as  well  as  noble,  that  human  nature  knows.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  that  the  great  progress  in  science  and  government  has  not 
been  made  at  universities.  Our  fathers  were  outcasts  from  the  universi¬ 
ties  ;  and  Oxford  in  England  taught  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience  to 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


4 

.( 

kings,  long  after  Hooker  and  Haynes  had  founded  government  in  Con¬ 
necticut  on  undivided  obedience  to  God.  When  the  angel  of  advancing 
reform  knocks  at  the  gate  of  our  colleges,  he  is  too  often  met  with  a  re¬ 
buff,  and  compelled,  as  in  the  days  of  the  patriarch,  to  go  out  and  break 
bread  with  the  herdsman  beneath  a  tree.  And  though  a  hearty  sympathy 
with  popular  liberty  is  the  sole  condition  on  which  an  American  scholar 
can  hope  for  enduring  fanie,  or  a  college  can  attain  highest  success,  it 
still  proves  hard  for  the  very  learned  to  acknowledge  that  learning  is  but 
a  cistern,  and  that  in  every  mind  there  is  a  living  fountain  of  truth. 
Therefore  it  is  that  Lord  Bacon  holds  it  necessary  for  the  inquirer  to  be¬ 
come  as  a  little  child,  or  he  cannot  hope  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
intelligence  ;  and  we  have  good  authority  for  believing  that  Heaven,  in 
its  high  purposes  of  reform,  selects  for  its  agents  not  many  wise  after  the 
flesh.  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
wise,  and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  are  mighty. 

Thus  Justice  refuses  to  plead  before  a  fraction  of  the  people.  She 
establishes  her  open  tribunal,  and  seeks  a  decree  in  harmony  with  con¬ 
science  and  the  voice  of  God,  by  appointing  the  whole  people  as  the 
umpire  and  sovereign  arbiter.  Her  court  is  an  open  court.  Thither 
may  repair  the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed  ;  the  poor  and  the  rich  ;  the 
wise  after  the  flesh,  and  the  chosen  of  God,  whose  wisdom  is  as  that  of 
children ;  the  strong  and  the  weak ;  the  learned  and  the  unlearned  ;  the 
benevolent  and  the  churl.  All  are  admitted,  all  are  heard  ;  but  the  de¬ 
cision  is  the  voice  of  conscience  as  expressed  by  the  common  mind  ;  the 
voice  of  God  “  as  it  breathes  through  the  people :  ”  the  power  is  to  the 
people. 

In  this  judgment  of  the  people,  the  several  fractions  indeed  appear  and 
are  heard.  But  the  influence  of  those  fractions  is  merged  in  the  general 
influence.  The  excesses  of  one  class  cancel  the  excesses  of  the  other. 

Just  so  geographically.  The  voice  of  universal  reason,  in  Massachu¬ 
setts,  is  sometimes  affected  by  the  clamor  of  associated  wealth ;  at  the 
South,  by  a  selfishness  of  an  opposite  tendency.  .  The  errors  balance 
each  other.  As  in  algebra,  the  minus  and  the  plus,  if  equal,  neutralize 
each  other.  Thus  it  is  that  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  pure 
reason  ;  opposite,  unjust  passions  balancing  each  other,  justice  emerges. 

Give  power  to  a  fraction  of  the  people,  and  you  have  a  partial  exposi¬ 
tion  of  justice.  Give  power  to  the  whole  people,  and  you  gain  the  near¬ 
est  expression  of  the  law  of  God,  the  voice  of  conscience,  the  oracle  of 
universal  reason. 

Thus,  then,  we  see,  that  the  moral  law  is  graven  on  the  heart  of  every 
man  ;  that,  while  each  individual  has  personal  biases  and  passions,  the  uni¬ 
versal  principles  of  the  moral  law  exist  in  every  man ;  that,  therefore,  to 
gain  institutions  and  laws  founded  upon  universal  reason  and  universal 
justice,  the  appeal  must  be  made  to  the  whole  people. 

This  is  the  democratic  principle.  Democracy  is  eternal  justice, 

RULING  THROUGH  THE  PEOPLE. 

II.  The  principle  of  democracy,  of  itself,  dictates  the  forms  under 
which  it  establishes  itself  in  the  fundamental  laws. 

And  here  the  character  of  democracy  exhibits  itself  at  the  very  begin¬ 
ning.  For,  on  what  basis  does  government  rest  ? 

A  respectable  and  very  ambitious  party  represent  that  the  people  meet 
in  convention,  and  form  a  compact ;  that  this  compact  at  once  obtains  a 


THE  FORMS  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


5 


character  of  sanctity,  and  that  it  constitutes  the  basis  on  which  society 
rests.  This  is  the  whig  doctrine.  It  rests  government  not  on  any  thing 
that  is  in  man,  but  on  parchments  and  title  deeds. 

This  theory  gives  no  higher  authority  to  government,  than  the  accident 
of  agreement ;  it  is,  therefore,  essentially  relative,  and  is  remote  from  the 
high  idea  of  justice  in  its  origin,  as  in  its  character.  A  party  adopting 
this  theory  may  look  for  safety  to  checks  and  balances  ;  it  cannot  invoke  a 
higher  sanction  :  it  may  have  maxims  ;  it  never  can  have  principles. 

And  here  is  the  reason  why  the  whig  party  has  no  faith.  Whiggism 
gives  sanctity  to  the  form,  and  not  to  the  principle  which  led  to  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  the  form.  It  adheres  to  the  letter,  and  neglects  the  spirit ;  and 
the  dead  letter  cannot  inspire  faith.  Whiggism  values  forms  in  them¬ 
selves,  because  they  may  be  used  as  so  many  checks  on  the  people. 

Is  it  denied  that  the  whigs  prefer  forms  to  the  substance  ?  Have  w6 
not  seen,  in  Massachusetts,  an  executive  council  refuse  to  bend  their  ear 
to  hear  the  voices  of  the  yeomanry  and  hardy  mechanics  of  Westfield, 
and  reject  a  vote  of  which  the  accuracy  was  undisputed,  because  the 
town  clerk  wrote  his  name  in  the  centre  of  the  fourth  page,  instead  of  on 
a  corner  of  the  third  ?  Have  we  not  seen  the  whole  whig  party  claiming 
on  the  floor  of  Congress  for  abroad  seal,  under  a  notoriously  false  record, 
a  higher  power  than  for  the  voice  of  the  Commonwealth,  as  registered  at 
its  polls  and  preserved  in  its  archives  ? 

Or,  is  it  denied  that  the  whigs  have  no  faith  in  their  own  cause  ?  That 
they  have  not  faith,  is  evident  from  a  flood  of  reasons.  They  appeal  to 
the  passions  of  men,  and  not  to  their  reason.  They  are  perpetually  stim¬ 
ulating  the  minions  of  calumny  to  the  work  of  personal  defamation.  As  if 
ashamed  of  themselves,  they  are  perpetually  attempting  to  wear  democ¬ 
racy  as  a  mask.  They  dare  not  present  to  the  people,  as  candidates  for 
high  offices,  the  men  who  most  adequately  represent  their  party.  The 
doings  of  the  late  convention  of  whigs  at  Harrisburg  are  fraught  with  a 
sublime  moral.  By  not  daring  to  ask  the  suffrages  of  the  people  for 
Henry  Clay,  the  gifted  champion  of  their  cause,  they  themselves  made  a 
confession  in  advance  that  they  deserve  defeat,  that  a  true  representa¬ 
tive  of  the  whig  party  is  not  an  available  candidate.  To  them,  availa¬ 
bility  consists  in  that  happy  mediocrity,  which,  from  its  own  weakness, 
has  escaped  being  identified  with  any  prominent  measure  whatever. 

Democracy,  on  the  other  hand,  regards  government  as  springing  from 
the  necessity  implanted  in  man’s  nature.  Wherever  there  are  human 
beings,  wherever  there  are  intelligent  life  and  freedom,  there,  also,  the  in¬ 
ward  voice  of  God  in  the  soul  commands  society  to  be  instituted.  So¬ 
ciety  exists  of  necessity,  and  from  God  ;  and  rests  primarily  on  the  law 
of  justice  imprinted  on  man’s  heart,  long  before  a  parchment  was  scrawled 
upon,  or  a  constitution  devised.  Society  rests  on  immutable  justice  ;  and 
justice,  like  all  moral  truth,  lives  not  in  books,  not  in  letters  of  black  andj 
white,  not  in  archives  or  compacts,  but  in  the  souls  of  men. 

When  the  people  assemble  in  convention  to  settle  the  forms  of  govern¬ 
ment,  they  do  not  create  government,  they  only  institute  it.  The  office  j 
of  the  members  of  a  convention  is,  to  inquire  what  justice  commands. 
They  do  not  arbitrarily  create  forms  ;  they  do  but  ask  after  the  forms 
which  are  best  adapted  to  the  great  ends  of  society.  And  not  claiming 
for  themselves  infallibility,  they  do  not  regard  their  work  as  an  inviolable 
compact,  but  as  an  institution  to  be  amended,  reformed,  and  perfected, 
as  fast  as  the  increase  of  knowledge  and  uprightness  shall  demand 


6 


THE  FORMS  OF  DEMOCRACT. 


Thus  democracy  rests  government  on  the  strongest  possible  founda¬ 
tion  ;  — on  the  law  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  It  seeks  to  establish 
fundamental  laws,  in  conformity  to  the  immutable  principles  of  never- 
changing  justice.  And  as  the  race  is  constantly  advancing  in  intelligence, 
democracy  secures  to  the  people  the  right  to  make  constant  progress  in 
the  form  of  government.  Thus  the  people  have  taken  care  to  provide  a 
method  for  amending  the  constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and  in  our 
own  bill  of  rights,  it  is  energetically  declared,  that  “  The  people  have  an 
incontestable,  inalienable,  and  indefeasible  right  to  institute  government, 
and  to  reform,  alter,  or  totally  change  the  same.”  This  is  the  great 
doctrine  of  progress,  as  applied  to  the  Union  and  the  Commonwealth. 

In  framing  a  constitution,  democracy  demands,  that,  in  every  branch  of 
government,  that  system  shall  be  adopted  which  permits  the  most  ready 
and  certain  career  to  the  expression  of  the  public  conviction.  The  form 
which  leaves  power  nearest  the  'people,  is  the  form  chosen  by  democracy. 

First,  then,  it  asserts  the  doctrine  of  universal  franchise  in  the  election 
of  legislators.  The  whole  people  must  participate  in  the  appointing 
power,  and  must  participate  in  it  directly. 

In  the  next  place,  when  elections  have  been  made  by  the  people, 
democracy  respects  them.  It  gets  up  no  Ritner  rebellions :  it  adds  up 
the  column  of  figures  accurately  and  promptly,  and  does  not  delay  its 
report  for  week  after  week,  in  the  vain  hope  that  some  new  discoveries 
may  be  made  in  the  science  of  counting  nicely. 

The  legislators  thus  elected  are  but  trustees  of  the  people  ;  therefore 
responsible ;  and  swift  responsibility  is  secured  by  frequent  elections. 
Here  we,  of  New  England,  have  cause  of  gratitude  to  our  forefathers. 

If  office  is  a  burden,  it  should  not  be  forced  upon  a  few  ;  if  it  be  a 
benefit,  it  should  be  dispensed  as  widely  as  possible.  To  this  end  de¬ 
mocracy  enjoins  rotation  in  office. 

Further,  the  legislator  is  but  the  servant  or  trustee  of  the  people* 
therefore  he  is  bound  to  obey  instructions  from  the  people.  Does  he 
prove  false  to  his  professions  and  promises  ?  Let  him  be  reproved  by  his 
masters.  Does  he  turn  against  their  interests  or  their  rights  ?  Let  him 
learn  to  obey  his  sovereign. 

The  Quakers  who  settled  West  New  Jersey,  were  good  democrats. 
They  established  the  right  of  instruction  as  a  part  of  their  laws ;  and 
gave  to  each  elector  the  power  of  presenting  himself  in  the  legislative 
body,  and,  face  to  face,  of  arraigning  the  recreant  representative  who 
should  prove  false  to  his  bond. 

I  know  it  is  said  this  doctrine  of  instruction  interferes  with  the  delib¬ 
erative  character  of  the  representative  body.  The  answer  to  this  is,  that 
laws  are  to  express  the  convictions  of  the  people  ;  that  the  representative, 
if  he  has  a  good  purpose,  can  undertake  to  explain  it  to  his  constituents. 
When  a  legislator  asserts  his  own  will  against  the  will  of  his  constituents, 
he  becomes  the  exponent  of  the  smallest  possible  fraction,  to  wit,  himself. 

I““  Besides,  legislation,  to  be  abiding,  must  represent  the  will  of  the  people ; 
the  security,  therefore,  and  the  honesty  of  legislation  are  both  promoted 
by  the  doctrine  of  instructions.  Without  this,  there  is  no  check  upon 
the  personal  passions,  or  peculiar  schemes,  of  the  individual  representative. 

The  representative,  chosen  for  a  season,  soon  to  go  into  retirement, 
may  have  selfish  purposes.  Hence  a  second  limitation.  Democracy 
holds  him  not  only  responsible  to  the  people,  but  circumscribes  his  power 
Within  the  strict  boundaries  marked  out  for  him.  It  reserves  rights  to 


THE  FORMS  OF  DEMOCRACY.  7 

I 

the  individual,  rights  to  the  state,  rights  to  the  collective  people ;  and 
the  legislator  who  dares  to  step  beyond  them,  does  but  make  himself 
guilty  of  a  usurpation,  which  is  in  itself  null  and  void.  Hence  the 
rights  of  personal  freedom,  of  individual  freedom  of  mind,  are  reserved 
rights ;  hence  the  inalienable,  indefeasible  rights,  which  no  legislation 
can  create  or  abrogate ;  hence  state  rights,  which,  rightly  construed  and 
applied,  are  a  cherished  portion  of  our  liberties ;  hence  the  doctrine  in 
our  national  constitution,  that  powers  not  conceded; — that,  for  instance, 
of  chartering  a  bank,  or  granting  a  monopoly  —  are  never  to  be  exercised. 

The  legislature,  when  assembled,  is  but  a  transient  body ;  it  can,  there¬ 
fore,  never  give  immortality  to  its  acts.  Whatever  laws  it  establishes  are 
liable  to  be  repealed.  It  can  establish  no  perpetuities.  Democracy 
knows  nothing,  recognizes  nothing,  as  a  perpetuity,  but  the  law  of  God. 
All  the  forms  and  enactments  of  legislation  are  the  work  of  man’s  hand, 
and  are  perishable  like  man. 

Once  more :  Democracy  is  eternal  justice,  ruling  through  the  people. 
Hence  democracy  demands  equal  laws  for  the  general  good ;  hence  de¬ 
mocracy  tolerates  no  monopolies.  They  are  at  war  with  providence, 
which  always  acts  by  general  laws.  The  law  of  God  knows  no  dis¬ 
tinction  of  persons ;  and  just  so  democracy,  in  its  legislation,  acts  with¬ 
out  fear  and  without  favor;  it  abrogates  all  privileges;  it  forbids  all 
monopolies ;  and  it  establishes  the  equal  rights  of  the  people  on  the  sure 
rock  of  Divine  truth. 

In  organizing  the  judiciary,  democracy  is  equally  vigilant:  First,  by 
circumscribing  the  subjects  on  which  judgment  is  to  be  rendered.  There 
may  arise,  in  civil  suits,  two  classes  of  questions.  One  relates  merely  to 
property  as  such,  and  to  contracts  between  man  and  man.  These  belong 
to  the  judiciary  to  decide.  And  there  is  no  danger  that  this  power  will 
be  seriously  abused.  But  there  is  another  class,  which  involves  political 
questions ;  and  here  democracy  imperatively  reserves  to  the  people  the 
ultimate  decision  of  every  political  question,  and  also  refuses  to  the  judi¬ 
ciary  all  participation  in  legislative  power.  The  judges  are  the  ministers 
of  the  law,  not  the  tribunes  of  the  people. 

Just  so  in  criminal  suits.  The  judges  are  to  act  under  existing  laws, 
but  cannot  of  themselves  constitute  crimes.  They  have  no  power  to 
enlarge  or  to  alter  the  criminal  code. 

Democracy  asserts  the  concurrent  power  of  the  jury.  It  claims  for 
the  jury  the  right  of  deciding  on  the  law,  as  well  as  on  the  fact.  The 
jury  is  the  organ  through  which  the  people  qualify  and  restrict  the  other-:, 
wise  arbitrary  and  nearly  irresponsible  power  of  the  bench. 

Again :  Democracy  insists  upon  the  responsibility  of  the  judiciary 
to  the  people.  And  this  it  secures,  and  can  secure,  only  by  limiting 
their  tenure  of  office.  In  your  Commonwealth,  a  judge  is  liable  to  be 
dismissed  by  an  address  of  two  thirds;  and,  in  the  general  government,1 
a  vote  of  two  thirds  is  needed  to  give  effect  to  an  impeachment.  This 
provision  is  entirely  nugatory.  The  better  way  is  to  restrict  the  term 
of  office.  Then  responsibility  becomes  perfect,  by  the  prospect  of  reap-: 
pointment.  The  good  judge  need  not  fear  the  people.  From  the  avowed  j 
convictions  of  the  late  President,  at  the  time  of  the  appointment,  I  infer, 
that  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  present  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States 
that  the  term  of  the  judicial  office  should  be  limited,  and  not  be  for  life. 

Finally  :  Democracy  does  not  allow  of  appeals  from  a  final  judicial 
decision,  in  a  mere  question  of  property ;  but  every  improper  or  unjust 


8 


THE  FORMS  OF  DEMOCRACY, 


exposition  of  law  can  be  reformed  by  legislation  ;  and  the  whole  system 
can  be  amended,  altered,  and  reformed,  by  the  people  in  convention. 

I  have  thus  traced  the  forms  of  democracy  through  the  legislature  and 
the  judiciary ;  it  remains  to  explain  them  with  regard  to  the  executive. 

In  the  first  place,  democracy  claims  the  right  of  electing  the  chief 
magistrate  directly  by  the  people.  Thus,  throughout  New  England, 
we  vote  directly  for  the  governor.  In  some  states,  the  governor  is 
chosen  by  the  legislature.  To  this  democracy  objects ;  for  it  leads  to 
selfish  intrigues  and  cabals. 

Again:  The  legislature  expresses  the  will  of  the  people  bylaws;  the 
executive  enforces  it.  The  powers  become  blended,  and,  by  a  law 
of  universal  efficacy,  the  aristocratic  influence  gains  a  new  chance  of 
securing  power,  when  the  legislature  appoints  the  executive. 

The  chief  magistrate  obtains  a  proper  independence,  and  a  proper 
responsibility,  by  receiving  his  appointment  directly  from  the  people. 

The  supreme  executive  is,  moreover,  a  check  upon  the  legislature, 
and  should,  therefore,  derive  his  power  directly  from  the  people. 

Hence  the  recent  changes  in  the  constitution  of  North  Carolina  and 
of  Maryland,  by  which  the  choice  of  governor  is  transferred  from 
legislatures  to  the  people,  is  strictly  a  democratic  triumph. 

So,  too,  in  the  choice  of  president,  to  vote  for  electors  directly  by  the 
people,  and  not  through  the  legislature,  is  the  democratic  rule. 

And  here  is  the  reason  why  democracy  opposes  the  throwing  of  the 
choice  of  president  of  the  United  States  into  Congress.  It  is  because 
Congress,  by  electing  the  president,  constitutes  itself  his  author.  It  is 
because  members  of  Congress,  in  making  a  president,  may  have  private 
purposes.  It  is  because  Congress  may  be  distracted  by  selfish  intrigues, 
and  so,  after  weeks  and  months  of  promises  and  counter-promises,  of 
chafferings  and  bargainings,  elect  a  president  by  a  corrupted  majority. 

The  executive,  being  thus  elected,  is  the  representative  of  the  whole 
people.  The  governor  of  a  commonwealth  is,  in  the  eye  of  democracy, 
the  representative  of  its  people,  and,  as  such,  is  bound  to  watch  over 
their  freedom  and  protect  their  rights. 

The  president  of  the  United  States  is,  in  like  manner,  the  repre¬ 
sentative  of  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  and,  as  a  faithful  repre¬ 
sentative,  he  is  bound  to  sustain  the  power  of  the  people. 

Hence  it  is,  that,  in  the  true  spirit  of  democracy,  the  people  have 
intrusted  him  with  a  tribunitial  power.  He  is,  by  the  constitution,  the 
grand  tribune  of  the  people,  possessing  for  the  people  the  power  of  a 
Veto,  bound  to  restrain  the  aristocratic  tendencies  of  legislation,  and  to 
negative  every  law  that  interferes  with  the  constitution,  with  freedom, 
with  popular  power.  The  corrupt  and  corrupting  influence  of  a  gigantic 
moneyed  aristocracy  was  arrested  by  the  tribunitial  act  of  Andrew  Jackson. 
The  whole  country,  the  world,  now  recognizes  the  justice  of  that  act. 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  great  executive  question  of  the  sword  and 
*-3  the  purse. 

If  the  sword  is  to  be  used  at  all,  it  must  certainly  be  to  execute  the 
laws  ordained  by  the  people,  and,  when  the  sad  necessity  occurs,  must 
be  used  by  the  executive.  God  forbid  it  should  ever  be  used  except 
in  conformity  to  law,  by  those  who  are  bound  to  execute  the  law !  But 
against  its  unjust  use  dembcracy  erects  barriers.  In  relation  to  indi¬ 
viduals,  a  trial  in  open  court,  and  a  verdict  by  a  jury,  must  precede  the 
punishment  of  a  capital  crime. 


THE  FORMS  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


9 


As  it  regards  the  people,  a  legislative  act  must  of  necessity  precede 
the  use  of  the  sword.  Democracy,  I  have  said,  is  reason  ruling  through 
the  people.  It  therefore  never  can  begin  an  offensive  war;  and,  if  it 
could  pervade  the  civilized  world,  there  would  be  an  end  of  all  wars. 
The  sword  would  be  beaten  into  the  ploughshare  and  the  sickle,  and  the 
din  of  arms  would  be  hushed  in  the  peaceful  reign  of  justice.  But  as, 
in  our  imperfect  state  of  society,  the  possession  of  arms  is  needed  for 
self-defence,  the  employment  of  military  force  is  forbidden  except  under 
an  act  of  legislation.  Thus  the  courts  of  justice,  the  people’s  jury,  the 
legislature,  the  people  themselves,  stand  between  the  executive  and  the 
wrongful  use  of  the  sword.  I  have  no  apprehension  of  tyranny,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  governor  in  each  New  England  commonwealth  pos¬ 
sesses  the  sword.  Nay,  rather,  I  hold  it  as  an  evidence  of  advancing 
civilization,  that,  in  your  state  and  in  the  United  States,  “the  military  is, 
in  all  cases,  and  at  all  times,  in  strict  subordination  to  the  civil  power.” 

In  like  manner,  the  executive  must,  by  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
have  from  the  public  purse  the  moneys  needed  by  the  public  appropria¬ 
tions.  Who  shall  keep  the  revenue  ?  Democracy  answers,  The  officers  of 
the  people  ;  those  who  are  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  people  them¬ 
selves:  if  the  people  intrust  the  appointing  power  to  the  president,  then 
the  officers  whom  the  president  shall  appoint  under  the  constitution  and 
the  laws.  The. constitution  of  the  United  States  is  explicit  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  ;  it  declares,  in  emphatic  language,  that  “  no  money  shall  be  drawn 
from  the  treasury  but  in  consequence  of  appropriations  made  by  law.” 

But  this  does  not  satisfy  the  aristocracy.  That  aristocracy  wishes,  in 
advance  of  appropriations  made  by  law,  to  take  all  the  public  revenue 
out  of  the  treasury  of  the  people,  and  place  it  where  it  will  be  independ¬ 
ent  of  the  government,  and  therefore  independent  of  the  people.  Yes, 
the  wish  is  to  take  the  revenues  of  the  United  States  out  of  the  power 
and  control  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  place  them,  by  a 
permanent  law,  in  the  custody  of  corporations,  that,  by  their  very  nature, 
are  the  representatives  of  the  aristocracy  of  wealth.  The  consequence 
of  this  is  twofold.  First,  it  gives  to  the  moneyed  interest,  through  the 
banks,  a  veto  power  on  every  executive  act ;  for  the  irresponsible  corpo¬ 
rations  may  refuse  to  the  United  States  the  use  of  the  public  revenues. 
And  next,  by  taking  the  public  funds  out  of  the  custody  of  officers 
directly  or  indirectly  appointed  by  the  people,  it  of  necessity  creates  an 
aristocracy,  and  places  the  treasury  in  the  perpetual  custody  of  corpora¬ 
tions.  We  object  to  appointments  for  life;  but  this  organisation  of  the 
treasury  implies  a  perpetuity  of  trust,  conferred  on  bodies  which,  though 
they  possess  no  moral  life,  would  yet  never  die,  if  it  were  not  that  every 
unjust  institution  is  essentially  mortal.  The  effect  is,  in  fact,  to  create, 
in  connection  with  the  treasury,  a  perpetuity  of  office-holders,  and  to 
neutralize  and  destroy  a  portion  of  the  executive  power  by  legislative 
enactments,  in  direct  violation  of  the  intention  of  the  constitution. 

Such,  then,  are  the  appropriate  forms  of  democracy ;  all  designed  to 
give  free  course  to  the  popular  will. 

III.  The  first  and  most  marked,  the  characteristic  tendency  of 
democracy,  is  towards  improvement.  Not  bound  down  by  experience, 
not  satisfied  with  the  results  of  the  past,  it  is  restless  in  its  struggles  after 
advancement  in  freedom,  in  equality,  in  public  happiness,  in  the  widest 
extension  of  the  benefits  of  civilization.  It  longs  for  a  brighter  and  a 
happier  futurity.  It  does  not  believe  that  the  legislators  of  old  time  have 


10 


THE  TENDENCIES  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


established  landmarks  of  civilization  never  to  be  carried  forward ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  believes  rather  that  the  boundaries  of  civilization  have  been 
constantly  advancing,  and  are  destined  to  be  yet  more  widely  extended. 

Such  was  the  faith  of  Jefferson,  and  his  public  life  was  in  harmony 
with  it.  His  first  act  as  a  legislator  was  the  expression  of  sympathy  for 
the  weakest  and  most  oppressed  —  a  demand  for  the  freedom  of  emanci¬ 
pating  the  enslaved  African.  His  first  great  act  in  the  American  Congress, 
was  to  write,  in  letters  of  light,  the  new  doctrine  of  the  independence  of 
America,  and  to  connect  with  that  independence  the  great  ideas  of  the 
rights  of  man.  His  proclamation  to  the  world,  on  taking  the  oath  of 
office  as  president,  was,  Freedom  of  Inquiry,  and  the  Power  of  the 
People ;  that  is,  the  right  to  discover  new  truth,  and  to  imbody  that  truth 
in  legislation  ;  and  in  his  latest  old  age,  beautiful  visions  of  the  future 
still  floated  before  his  eyes,  and  even  to  the  hour  of  death,  in  the  calm 
serenity  that  springs  from  faith  in  human  progress,  he  gave  up  his  spirit 
to  God,  from  whom  it  emanated,  with  the  tranquillizing  words,  “  Nowt, 
Lord,  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace.” 

This  constant  hope  of  progress  is  denounced  by  our  opponents  as  de¬ 
structive  of  present  institutions  —  a  war  against  the  past.  But  in  truth, 
Democracy  is  not  destructive ;  she  makes  no  war  on  the  past ;  she  plans 
no  overthrow  of  the  present.  On  the  contrary,  she  garners  up  and  bears 
along  with  her  all  the  truths  that  past  generations  have  discovered  ;  she 
will  not  let  go  one  single  idea,  not  one  principle,  not  one  truth.  She  has 
an  honest  lineage  ;  she  is,  under  God’s  providence,  the  lawful  offspring  of 
advancing  humanity,  and  she  claims  as  her  rightful  inheritance  the  glori¬ 
ous  inventions,  the  rich  discoveries  of  the  past.  But  Democracy  does  not, 
like  the  Egyptians,  embalm  the  dead  ;  she  does  not  bear  along  with  her 
decayed  institutions,  errors  that  have  inflicted  on  themselves  their  own 
death  blow.  She  leaves  the  self-styled  conservative  to  stagger  along 
under  the  accumulated  superstitions  and  wasting  structures  of  past  cen¬ 
turies,  to  totter  under  the  piles  of  charters  that  have  expired,  of  contracts 
that  have  been  broken ;  and  she  herself  keeps  on  in  her  course,  having 
for  her  companions  all  the  noble  institutions  which  rest,  self-sustained,  in 
their  own  integrity ;  and  for  the  guaranty  of  her  success,  the  natural 
immortality  of  truth,  and  the  ever-active  providence  of  God. 

I  know  that  this  faith  in  man’s  advancement  is,  by  many,  esteemed 
visionary :  I  know  that  many  of  our  opponents  assert,  that  the  immense 
difference  between  the  favored  classes  and  the  toilsome  children  of  labor, 
is  the  order  of  providence  ;  that  the  history  of  the  future,  like  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  past,  must  show  the  largest  number  in  a  state  of  ignorance 
and  suffering,  and  all  the  benefits  of  civilization  the  exclusive  enjoyment 
of  the  few.  The  argument,  as  far  as  it  regards  society,  is  refuted  by 
facts.  Each  year  has  given  to  humanity  new  trophies,  in  its  effort  to 
diffuse  the  benefits  of  freedom.  At  this  moment,  throughout  our  whole 
country,  the  highest  activity  prevails  in  the  public  mind  to  check,  on  the 
one  hand,  every  tendency  to  exclusiveness  in  legislation,  and,  on  the  other, 
to  assert,  for  every  class  of  the  community,  its  right  to  the  equal  benefits 
of  our  institutions. 

But  the  faith  in  advancement  admits  of  a  nobler  justification.  It  rests 
on  the  highest  elements  of  morality ;  is  blended  with  all  that  is  noble  in 
human  nature;  and,  far  from  being  the  faith  of  fanatics  and  visionaries, 
we  avow,  as  a  part  of  our  democratic  creed,  that  this  faith  is  essential  to 
the  character  of  a  good  practical  statesman  ;  that  every  truly  great  legis  * 


THE  TENDENCIES  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


11 


lator  is  not  limited  in  the  action  of  his  mind  to  experience,  to  examples, 
to  decided  cases,  but  acknowledges  that  there  is  an  ideal  which  states  and 
nations  should  strive  to  realize. 

To  any  one  who  admits  the  distinctions  of  morals,  this  proposition  is 
capable  of  demonstration.  Politics,  rightly  considered,  are  morals  applied 
to  public  affairs  ;  for  the  providence  of  God  is  supreme  every  where  ;  He 
is  the  God  of  nations,  as  well  as  the  God  of  man.  Now,  then,  go  into 
private  life.  Young  men,  you  who  are  striving  to  build  up  for  yourselves 
a  pure  fame,  will  you  seek  in  those  around  you  for  the  high  ideal  of  moral 
worth  ?  Shall  the  example  of  men  around  you,  swayed  to  and  fro  by 
the  passions  of  the  moment,  soured  by  disappointment,  kindling  with  ex¬ 
citement,  debased  by  desires,  ever  the  dupes  of  their  own  selfishness ; 
shall  the  example  of  beings,  as  imperfect  as  each  individual  of  our  race, 
constitute  the  rule  of  conduct  ?  If  it  were  so,  there  could  be  no  such 
thing  as  striving  after  virtue  ;  for  no  man  is  in  himself  a  personification 
of  virtue  ;  no  man  has  realized  perfection.  To  establish,  then,  a  rule  of 
morality,  deduced  from  the  practice  of  individuals,  has,  for  its  necessary 
result,  the  abandonment  of  highest  excellence,  and  substituting  for  it  im¬ 
perfect  experience.  Such  a  system  would  destroy  all  morality  ;  would 
substitute  human  imperfection  for  the  divine  law,  the  actual  passions  of 
mortals  for  the  bright  though  unrealized  image  of  the  divine  man,  which 
God  has  implanted  in  the  heart. 

The  same  is  true  of  politics.  Follow  experience,  you  may  renew  mon¬ 
archy,  feudalism,  the  dominion  of  a  selfish  stock  aristocracy.  You  ne¬ 
cessarily  vitiate  legislation,  by  proposing  in  the  outset  to  shape  it  after  im¬ 
perfect  models.  Democracy,  on  the  contrary,  seeks  to  represent  to  itself 
an  ideal  republic,  possessed  of  all  the  qualities  belonging  to  the  social 
condition,  in  harmony  with  each  other,  and  each  adapted  to  its  end.  It 
is  necessary  for  the  statesman  to  have  in  his  mind  the  conception  of  a 
perfect  legislation ;  that  he  may  thus,  by  the  comparison,  be  constantly 
led  to  discover  existing  defects,  and  to  move,  if  slowly  yet  certainly,  in 
the  paths  of  improvement. 

The  immediate  tendency  of  democratic  legislation  is  towards  a  true 
and  full  declaration  of  national  independence,  —  a  perfect  relief  from  the 
last  remaining  bonds  of  the  old  colonial  system,  which  was  but  a  branch 
of  the  false  mercantile  system.  That  system  founded  commerce  not  on 
reciprocity,  but  on  privileges  secured  by  treaty  or  enforced  by  oppression, 
making  commerce,  which  should  be  a  pledge  of  peace,  the  fruitful  parent 
of  wars.  This  system  was  dominant  in  European  politics  for  a  century. 
Our  declaration  of  independence  was  its  death-warrant ;  and  though  it 
still  lingered  into  the  lap  of  a  better  century,  it  never  could  effect  a  re¬ 
versal  of  its  doom.  When  these  United  States  began  their  existence  as 
a  nation,  the  traces  of  the  false  mercantile  system  were  branded  deeply 
into  the  code  of  every  European  maritime  power.  The  principle  involved 
in  our  very  existence  as  a  nation,  was  perpetually  coming  in  conflict 
with  the  many  European  abuses  which  protruded  themselves  into  our 
path,  and  attempted  to  block  up  our  progress.  For  the  nations  of  Eu¬ 
rope  to  recognize  a  colony  as  an  equal ;  for  the  monarchs  and  aristocracies 
of  Europe  to  admit  a  democratic  republic  to  equal  influence  in  the  inter¬ 
pretation  of  international  law,  implied  changes  in  the  European  world  as 
vast  as  those  which  were  effected  by  our  independence  itself.  England 
has  not  yet  learned  to  respect  our  republic  as  her  equal.  The  same  spirit 
which,  in  the  days  of  Washington,  dictated  its  refusal  to  surrender  the 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


12  DEMOCRACY  PROTECTS  THE  MANUFACTURER. 

north-western  posts,  inspires  her  counsels  now  in  her  arrogant  usurpa¬ 
tions  on  our  north-eastern  frontier.  Aristocratic  England  has  not  yet 
learned  a  due  respect  for  the  Plebeian  Republic,  which  is  spreading  her 
language  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other.  On  questions  of 
international  law,  democracy,  asserting  equality,  and  submitting,  self-re¬ 
strained,  to  the  limitations  of  justice,  tends  towards  establishing  freedom 
of  goods  for  free  ships,  and  guarding  a  vessel  on  the  high  seas  as  a  float¬ 
ing  colony. 

In  like  manner,  democracy  upholds  American  industry,  and  asserts  its 
independence.  In  a  former  century,  English  legislation  did,  as  it  were, 
forbid  all  American  manufactures  in  wool  and  in  iron,  and  built  up  Eng¬ 
lish  industry  by  prohibitory  laws.  New  England  would  at  that  time, 
in  defiance  of  English  competition,  have  succeeded  in  manufactures. 
Then,  when  there  was  no  tariff  at  all,  prohibitory  laws  were  required,  to 
restrain  the  active  enterprise  of  our  fathers.  The  consequence  of  this 
tyranny  was  American  independence  —  not  as  a  struggle  for  power  to  ap¬ 
ply  the  same  false  system,  but  as  an  assertion  of  the  right  of  freedom  of 
enterprise  and  industry.  A  powerful  party  among  us  has  attempted  to 
renew  the  tariff  policy  of  that  old  mercantile  system,  —  a  system  which 
has  never  succeeded  but  in  connection  with  the  dominion  of  the  seas ;  a 
system  which,  in  its  old  intensity,  has  become  impossible  every  where,  and 
against  which  the  current  of  advancing  civilization  is  sweeping  with 
irresistible  energy.  To  trust  the  prosperity  of  manufactures  to  such  an  an¬ 
tiquated  legislation,  would  be  like  building  a  fortress  on  the  verge  of  a 
bluff,  which  the  deep  waters  of  the  Mississippi  had  already  undermined. 

But  the  industry  of  New  England  has  not  only  been  led  into  this  most 
dangerous  position  of  leaning  for  support  on  a  floating  tariff,  regulated  by 
uncertain  majorities,  and  modified  by  changing  interests  ;  it  has  been 
made  a  victim  to  the  false  financial  system  in  which  we  have  become  in¬ 
volved,  and  which  the  spasmodic  energies  of  the  whole  whig  party  are 
now  summoned  to  maintain.  I  appeal  to  the  manufacturers  themselves ; 
I  ask  only  to  be  heard :  let  the  manufacturers  pronounce  the  verdict. 

First,  then,  the  United  States  Bank,  concentrating  its  influences  in 
our  large  commercial  cities,  and  dealing  immensely  in  foreign  bills  of 
exchange,  having  also  its  agencies  in  London  and  Paris,  where  it  negotia¬ 
ted  largest  loans,  was,  by  its  very  nature,  calculated  to  stimulate  commer¬ 
cial  activity,  and  by  its  sympathies  to  sustain  the  interests  of  foreign 
manufactures. 

Next,  the  surplus  revenues  of  the  government,  increased  by  the  high 
tariff,  were  loaned  out,  chiefly  in  the  mercantile  cities,  to  importing  mer¬ 
chants  ;  so  that  the  very  excess  of  duties,  by  occasioning  fresh  importa¬ 
tions,  accumulated  evils  alike  on  the  American  manufacturer  and  on  the 
merchant,  till  the  day  of  reckoning  drew  near,  to  spread  sorrow  and 
bankruptcy  throughout  the  land. 

Next  came  the  disastrous  expansion  of  our  own  currency.  Our  oppo¬ 
nents  extol  the  benefits  of  a  mixed  currency,  and  yet  they  resist  all 
efforts  to  make  even  the  least  advance  towards  a  mixed  currency.  You 
in  Connecticut,  we  in  Massachusetts,  have  not  a  mixed  currency  of  specie 
and  paper,  but  an  unmixed  currency,  composed  of  paper  alone.  Specie 
has  been  banished  almost  entirely,  except  for  purposes  of  making  change. 
In  consequence,  while  a  high  tariff,  by  its  very  nature,  excluded  the 
American  manufactures  from  the  foreign  market,  each  protective  tariff 
was,  in  succession,  rendered  nugatory  at  home  ;  for,  as  the  tariff  was 


DEMOCRACY  PROTECTS  THE  MANUFACTURER, 


13 


advanced,  the  currency  expanded,  till  in  the  fever  of  speculation  and 
extravagant  prices,  the  cost  of  production  rose  to  such  a  degree,  that  the 
foreigner  could  pay  the  high  duties,  and  yet  compete  with  the  American 
manufacturer  in  the  American  market. 

Wide  suspensions  of  specie  payments  have  occurred  twice  already  ; 
and  these  again  operate  ruinously  on  the  manufacturer.  If,  in  the  time 
of  suspension,  he  borrows,  he  must  give  his  notes  at  par,  and  receive  a 
depreciated  currency.  If,  now,  the  New  England  mechanic  attempts  to 
collect  moneys  due  him  south  or  west  of  New  Jersey,  he  has  no  option 
but  between  a  lawsuit  and  receiving  payment  in  broken  promises;  in 
other  words,  he  must  submit  to  a  loss  of  ten  per  cent,  on  his  dues. 

But  this  is  not  all :  This  same  unnatural  mercantile  system  has  been 
followed  by  immense  public  debts,  and  for  these  state  scrip  was  negotia¬ 
ted  abroad.  But  in  fact  the  money  was  raised  here  at  home ;  England 
sent  nothing  in  exchange  for  our  hundreds  of  millions  of  stocks  but  more 
bales  of  broadcloths,  larger  importations  from  the  workshops  of  Birming¬ 
ham  and  Manchester.  So  true  is  this,  that  one  of  the  agents  for  the  sale 
of  state  stocks  appealed  to  British  capitalists  in  behalf  of  British  manufac* 
turers  to  participate  in  the  loans.  “  The  capital  borrowed  by  the  United 
States  ”  —  I  quote  the  words  of  the  agent  —  “  is  transferred  by  bills  from 
the  banker  to  the  merchant ,  and  is  taken  to  America ,  riot  in  bullion ,  but  in 
British  goods  ;  every  investment  made ,  while  it  adds  to  the  income  of  the 
capitalists ,  swells  the  profits  of  the  British  manufacturer .”  Here  is  the 
cause  of  most  of  the  recent  distress.  But  for  these  disastrous  loans,  and 
the  consequent  flood  of  foreign  manufactures  inundating  the  country,  the 
workshop  of  many  a  manufactory,  which  is  now  inactive  from  the  impov¬ 
erishment  of  its  owner,  would  have  still  been  the  happy  scene  of  con¬ 
tented,  prosperous  industry. 

And  now,  when  it  is  proposed  to  assume  the  state  debts,  this  branch  of 
the  whig  financial  system  also  menaces  intense  suffering  to  the  American 
manufacturers.  Were  the  assumption  to  take  place,  it  would  stimulate 
the  mercantile  interest  once  more  to  extravagant  importations,  thus  con¬ 
summating  the  wreck  of  our  domestic  industry,  and  producing  in  our 
cities  all  the  embarrassments  consequent  on  excess  of  commercial  action. 

But  when  I  hear  men  assert  that  the  interests  of  labor  are  bound  up 
inseparably  with  the  unstable  character  of  our  currency,  my  heart  bleeds 
within  me  at  the  thought  of  the  monstrous  deception  which  is  attempted. 
The  argument,  stripped  of  its  sophistry,  is  this  :  High  wages  can  be 
maintained  only  by  the  present  elastic  credit  system  ;  therefore,  take  care 
of  the  banks,  and  by  so  doing  you  take  cafe  of  the  laboring  class. 

Again :  It  is  said  Spain,  and  Germany,  and  Italy,  are  hard  money 
countries ;  America  is  a  paper  money  country.  Therefore,  restrain  the 
licentiousness  of  our  present  credit  system,  curb  the  arbitrary  power  of 
the  banks  over  the  currency,  and  the  American  laborer  would  be  as  wretch¬ 
ed  as  the  Spanish,  the  German,  or  the  Italian  laborer.  So  indifferent  are 
the  whigs  to  popular  freedom  and  popular  education,  they  can  see  no 
difference  between  Italy  and  New  England,  except  that  Italy  has  no 
banks  of  circulation,  and  that  New  England  has  them  thick  as  the  fallen 
leaves  in  autumn. 

These  arguments  need  only  to  be  stated,  in  order  to  expose  their  fal¬ 
lacy  ;  let  the  harmlessness  of  such  false  appeals  teach  our  opponents 
respect  for  the  intelligence  of  the  people. 

But  is  it  seriously  apprehended  by  any  that  an  increase  of  specie  in 


14 


DEMOCRACY  THE  FRIEND  TO  THE  RIGHTS  OF  LABOR. 


the  circulation  would  unreasonably  depress  the  wages  of  the  laborer  ? 
The  laboring  class  in  the  United  States  is  not  dependent  on  banks,  but 
rests  self-sustained  and  is  safe  for  three  causes  :  1.  The  laboring  class  is 
not  in  debt,  and  therefore  has  no  sympathy  with  speculators  and  men 
who  seek  wealth  without  labor.  2.  The  nation  has  a  vast  domain,  where 
most  fertile  land  is  always  open  to  the  purchaser  at  moderate  prices; 
where  the  industrious  squatter  can,  without  aid  from  paper  money, 
achieve  an  independence.  3.  Our  currency  is  alternately  contracting 
as  well  as  expanding.  By  drawing  nearer  to  the  true  specie  standard, 
depression  is  guarded  against,  even  more  than  its  opposite ;  and  steady 
prices,  a  sure  market  for  manufactures,  and  a  uniform  demand  for  labor, 
would  be  the  consequence.  The  pendulum  swings  too  far  each  way  ; 
the  tendency  of  democracy  is  to  repress  the  extravagances  from  which 
speculators  alone  reap  benefits,  and  to  guard  against  the  depressions 
which  at  last  spread  through  the  land,  dismissing  the  laborer  from  his 
employment,  diminishing  the  prices  of  produce,  and  carrying  grief  into 
the  families  of  the  independent  manufacturers,  whose  hearths,  but  for  our 
unstable  currency,  would  have  been  gladdened  by  an  honest  competence. 

And  now  I  turn  on  the  men  who  make  a  pretence  of  contending  for 
the  laboring  classes,  when,  in  fact,  they  are  pleading  the  cause  of  large 
corporations ;  and  I  say,  the  tendency  of  democracy  is  toward  the  elevation 
of  the  industrious  classes,  the  increase  of  their  comfort ,  the  assertion  of 
their  dignity ,  the  establishment  of  their  power.  This  cannot  be  done  by 
any  system  of  artificial  legislation ;  for  of  that  the  great  corporations 
will  always  appropriate  the  benefits.  The  large  corporations,  it  is  true, 
are  forever  calling  in  the  laboring  classes  to  advocate  their  demands  for 
monopoly ;  Tom  Thumb  fights  the  battle,  but  the  giant  takes  the  spoils. 
The  laboring  classes  can  be  elevated  only  by  a  system  of  equal  laws. 
But  I  go  farther:  nothing  so  much  retards  their  progress  as  the  vices 
of  our  currency,  which  expands  when  rising  prices  require  a  check  to 
enterprise,  and  contracts  when  falling  prices  make  credit  most  desirable ; 
which,  at  one  time,  excites  fallacious  hopes,  by  creating  a  sudden  and 
unnatural  demand  for  laborers,  and,  at  another,  sacrifices  their  happiness 
and  abruptly  turns  them  off  by  double  scores. 

My  bosom  swells  with  indignation,  when  I  find  men  commending  to 
the  affections  of  the  laboring  class  the  very  evils  in  our  currency  which 
inflict  on  them  the  most  vital  injury.  I  stand  amazed  at  the  desperate 
recklessness  of  the  ambition  which,  for  the  vain  hope  of  political  success, 
can  hazard  the  prosperity  of  every  independent  manufacturer  in  the  land, 
by  striving  to  keep  up  a  little  longer  the  delusion  which  has  already  been 
productive  of  so  much  misery.  I  feel  a  summons  to  go  out  among  the 
people,  and  to  denounce  the  fallacies  of  these  false  appeals.  But  a 
moment’s  reflection  restores  tranquillity.  God  has  implanted  the  gift 
of  reason  in  every  breast ;  and,  let  the  new  panic-makers  attempt,  as 
loudly  as  they  will,  to  prove  that,  in  a  free  country,  where  the  people 
govern  themselves,  unless  arbitrary  power  over  the  currency  is  given  to 
the  banks,  the  people  will  be  as  degraded  and  as  impoverished  as  in 
a  despotism ;  —  against  this  sophistry  there  is  a  living  and  an  eloquent 
witness  in  the  breast  of  each  one  of  the  myriads  of  the  producing 
classes.  I  call  on  the  laborer  himself  to  pause  and  reflect ;  and  his  own 
mind  will  whisper  to  him  full  replies  to  the  artful  appeals  of  aspiring 
statesmen,  who,  pretending  to  advance  his  interests,  are,  in  reality,  the 
advocates  of  the  maxims  of  aristocracy. 


TENDENCIES  OF  DEMOCRACY. 


15 


It  is  the  observation  of  the  tendencies  of  legislation,  that  gives  a  deep 
faith  in  the  wisdom  and  security  of  the  policy  of  the  present  national  ad¬ 
ministration.  It  is  not  a  policy  suddenly  devised,  but  the  ripe  offspring 
of  time ;  the  centuries  bear  witness  to  its  seasonableness  and  its  virtues. 
The  providence  of  God  is  over  all  his  works.  He  controls  the  destinies 
of  nations ;  and,  whether  men  desire  it  or  not,  his  decrees  are  fulfilled. 
Our  independence  was  the  first  great  movement  in  the  progress  of  a  re¬ 
form,  which  is  penetrating  the  codes  of  every  civilized  nation  on  the  earth, 
[t  is  by  a  calm  acquiescence  in  this  direction,  by  a  willingness  to  act  in 
harmony  with  the  tendencies  of  civilization,  that  the  national  administra¬ 
tion  has  sustained  itself,  and  will  continue  to  do  so.  It  did  not  create  its 
system ;  it  did  but  adopt  the  policy,  which  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the 
genius  of  advancing  humanity,  inspired.  It  brought  to  the  work  integrity 
and  sagacity,  prudence  and  courage  ;  but  the  work  itself  was  marked  out 
by  the  designs  of  a  Power  higher  than  that  of  man. 

The  effects  of  that  system  will  be  wider  than  the  borders  of  our  own 
land.  It  will  break  the  last  bonds  of  the  colonial  system  throughout  the 
world ;  it  will  compel  every  nation  which  has  colonies  to  emancipate 
them,  that  is,  to  give  them  either  independence  or  equal  laws.  By  fires 
from  our  hearths,  the  redeeming  spirit  of  democratic  freedom  shall  yet  kin¬ 
dle  its  light  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  beyond  Lake  Su¬ 
perior,  on  Hudson’s  Bay  and  Nootka  Sound. 

The  night  would  wear  away,  and  the  stars  of  morning  vanish  into  the 
sky,  before  I  could  enumerate  all  the  methods  in  which  democracy  tends 
to  effect  the  happiness  of  the  nation. 

By  cultivating  the  power  of  reason,  it  diminishes  alike  the  frequency  of 
crimes  and  punishments. 

It  tends  to  order  and  security  of  property  ;  for,  by  reconciling  legisla¬ 
tion  with  justice,  it  invokes  always  the  energy  of  conscience,  and  gives 
to  public  law  not  the  force  only  of  an  arm  of  flesh,  but  that  infinitely 
higher  power,  the  force  of  moral  opinion. 

It  tends  to  equality ;  for,  by  founding  government  on  reason,  it  is 
pledged  to  recognize  the  equal  claims  of  all  who  are  endowed  with 
reason. 

It  tends  to  promote  education ;  seeking  to  make  a  common  stock  of 
the  stores  of  intelligence,  the  fruits  of  mind,  which,  far  from  being 
diminished  by  being  shared,  are  increased  the  more  rapidly,  the  more 
widely  they  are  diffused. 

Once  more :  The  tendency  of  democratic  truth  is,  to  inspire  not  only 
a  confidence  in  itself,  but  a  confidence  in  its  success.  We  believe  in 
democratic  truth,  and  we  believe  also  in  the  overruling  providence  of 
God.  The  ultimate  prevalence  of  the  right  is  therefore  certain  ;  for, 
while  every  error  is  essentially  mortal,  and  every  wrong,  of  necessity,  in 
the  end  avenges  itself,  justice  partakes  of  the  Divine  immortality,  and  is 
destined  always  to  outlive  and  to  rise  above  its  adversaries.  This  hearty 
confidence  forms  one  of  the  most  striking  contrasts  between  the  two 
parties  that  divide  the  country.  When  a  series  of  apparent  reverses 
seemed,  a  year  or  two  ago,  to  promise  the  national  ascendency  to  the 
whigs,  I  never  met  with  a  democrat  who  despaired.  It  was  my  lot  to  be 
present  in  Washington  during  the  extra  session;  and  among  those  who 
resisted  the  immense  influences  that  were  directed  against  the  measures 
required  by  the  best  interests  of  freedom  and  the  country,  no  one  was 
more  conspicuous  for  manly  integrity,  for  a  clear  perception  of  the  merits 


16 


PROGRESS  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


of  the  questions  at  issue,  for  an  energetic,  able,  and  unflinching  support 
of  the  truth,  than  the  distinguished  citizen,  to  whose  honored  name  you 
have  assigned  the  most  conspicuous  station  in  your  coming  contest.  The 
country  applauds  your  choice ;  for  in  him  you  have  a  statesman  whom 
prosperity  could  never  elate,  nor  the  heaviest  gloom  appall.  True  to  his 
principles,  he  has  within  himself  a  calm  which  the  fury  of  his  assailants 
cannot  disturb,  and  which,  indifferent  to  personal  considerations,  can 
never  despair  of  the  triumph  of  the  democratic  principle.  On  the  other 
hand,  our  opponents  regarded  the  apparent  changes  in  their  favor  more 
as  an  unexpected  accident,  than  as  a  natural  and  necessary  consequence 
of  sufficient  causes ;  and  thus,  accepting  this  shadow  of  power,  clutched 
at  this  semblance,  which  proved,  after  all,  to  be  only  a  lifeless  spectre. 
On  the  slightest  show  of  a  victory,  they  are  almost  as  susceptible  as  a 
person  in  a  hectic ;  and  if  a  state  is  unexpectedly  carried,  they  cannot 
find  at  any  foundery  letters  large  enough  for  their  handbills. 

The  democratic  party  is  not  indifferent  to  the  successful  efforts  of  its 
friends ;  but  it  does  not  express  its  exultations  by  staring  capitals,  or 
intoxicating  revelries,  or  empty  noise.  Its  pleasure  is  of  a  deeper  and  a 
heartier  kind.  It  recognizes  a  victory  as  an  expected  event,  and  hears 
of  success  (vith  that  pleasure  with  which  you  would,  on  a  fine  summer’s 
inornifig,  watch  the  glorious  coming  of  the  king  of  day,  rejoicing  in  the 
east,  cheering  the  nation  with  his  beams,  and  yet  an  expected  visitant. 

The  pleasant  news  of  success  will  soon  flow  in  upon  us  from  the 
north.  The  glad  voices  of  successful  New  Hampshire  come  not  as  a 
strange  message,  but  like  the  pleasant  murmurings  of  the  winds,  in  the 
month  of  June,  singing  forth  their  ancient  melodies  among  the  bursting 
flowers  and  the  fresh  foliage  of  the  forest.  And  Massachusetts  also  has 
reconciled  herself  to  the  principle  of  popular  rights :  her  election  of 
Marcus  Morton,  the  pride  of  her  democracy,  is  the  homage  of  a 
commonwealth  to  truth;  it  is  the  offering  of  a  state  on  the  altar  of 
patriotism  ;  it  is  the  throbbing  of  the  mighty  heart  of  a  people,  sending 
the  beautiful  life-blood  of  freedom  through  its  whole  body  politic. 

Young  men  of  Connecticut!  it  is  not  enough  that  democracy  is 
victorious  around,  us  ;  let  it  be  victorious  here.  Here,  wfliere  the  strug¬ 
gle  is  the  hardest,  a  triumph  must  be  achieved. 

There  never  was  a  period  when  your  exertions  were  more  needed, 
or  were  more  sure  of  being  crowned  with  the  widest  and  the  happiest 
influence.  If  I  read  rightly  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  rests  with  you  to 
unite  New  England  in  one  close  array  on  the  side  of  the  democratic 
principle.  I  own  myself  animated  with  the  pride  of  a  New  England 
man  ;  I  exult  in  the  land  of  my  nativity ;  I  glory  in  the  intelligence,  the 
frugality,  the  integrity,  the  industry,  of  our  portion  of  the  common 
country.  The  lines  of  our  lives  have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places ; 
we  have  a  goodly  heritage  in  the  institutions,  the  habits,  the  caution, 
and  the  bold  enthusiasm,  that  come  down  to  us  from  our  fathers.  And 
I  fondly  believe  that  the  open  union  of  New  England  on  the  side  of  the 
democratic  principle,  would  not  only  leave  most  glorious  traces  of  its 
power  on  the  legislation  of  the  Union,  but  would  hasten  by  a  generation 
the  progress  of  liberal  opinions  throughout  the  globe. 


